As the dust settles following last Monday’s initial United States Presidential debate, I took the opportunity yesterday to preach on the question of “What does it mean to tell the truth?” I suggested that for Christians telling the truth is inseparable from becoming truthful people, as we find ourselves caught up by the Spirit in the life of Jesus, who is the Truth. For this reason, the Christian tradition has held a special place for the martyrs. The martyrs are those who have borne witness to the truth at the cost of their lives. Although I didn’t explicitly make the connection, a member of the congregation observed that the sermon implicitly contrasted the richness of the faithful witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maximilian Kolbe with the poverty of the two presidential candidates. Continue reading The Truth Will Set You Free
All posts by Robert Dean
An End of Summer Update
As a result of a summer filled with teaching, frequent preaching, and lots of marking, along with some much-needed family vacation time to recharge, blog posts in recent weeks have been few and far between. With a very full semester of teaching, congregational ministry and, God willing, the completion of several writing projects on the horizon, the prospects for frequent posting in the days ahead are not particularly promising either. Continue reading An End of Summer Update
The Last of the Audio from the Book Launch Celebration
At long last, I have finally gotten around to posting the last of the audio from the event celebrating the launch of my book, For the Life of the World: Jesus Christ and the Church in the Theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Stanley Hauerwas, on the Book Launch Celebration page. The final audio clip features my responses to the three presenters. In order to maintain a manageable file size, I had to edit out some of my preliminary comments and words of thanks. In spite of the absence of these words of thanks from the audio, I remain profoundly thankful for all who helped out in various ways to make the evening such a success.
Even More Audio from Book Launch Celebration
The audio from Glen Soderholm’s presentation at the launch for my book, For the Life of the World: Jesus Christ and the Church in the Theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Stanley Hauerwas, has now been posted in the Book Launch Celebration section of the website. Glen drew the fourth chapter of the book, “For the Life of the World: Church and World Revisited,” into fruitful dialogue with his own unique experience as a missional practioner, pastor, and church planter. Continue reading Even More Audio from Book Launch Celebration
Rowan Williams on Sneezing and Muddying the Waters
I recently had a student write a book review of Rowan Williams’ short book Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer for my summer systematic theology course. Williams, who is perhaps best known for having served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, is one of the most erudite and learned theologians of his generation. That being said, this brief introduction to “the essential elements of the Christian life”1 may possibly go down as his most important work. Continue reading Rowan Williams on Sneezing and Muddying the Waters
- Rowan Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), vii. ↩
More Audio from Book Launch Celebration
The audio from Robyn Elliott’s engagement with the third chapter of my book, For the Life of the World: Jesus Christ and the Church in the Theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Stanley Hauerwas, at the Book Launch Celebration held on July 6, 2016 has now been posted on the Book Launch Celebration page. Robyn was the valedictorian of the graduating class of Tyndale Seminary in 2014 and surely is one of the most gifted communicators to have come out of Tyndale in recent years. Continue reading More Audio from Book Launch Celebration